Tenbrink is showing he belongs

ADELANTO  One of the things that makes minor league baseball compelling in the month of April is that it offers the first chance to see if players have what it takes after moving up a level.

For hitters, the ball comes at them a little bit faster. It breaks a little bit harder. At-bats are a little bit tougher.

For pitchers, strikeouts are less frequent. It takes more effort to get through the lineup.

Each time a player advances it's a test of his skills  whether or not he has the ability to possibly make it to the Show.

So far through 20 games in High-A baseball, High Desert Mavericks third baseman Nate Tenbrink is passing his test.

Tenbrink went 1-for-5 with an RBI single and made a couple of nice plays in the infield to help lead the Mavs to a 11-3 win over the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes on Friday night at Stater Bros. Stadium.

Tenbrink began the day with a .392 batting average (third best in the California League) and has six doubles, three triples and two home runs this year.

That production comes on the heels of a 2009 season that saw Tenbrink lead his Class-A Clinton (Iowa) club in hits (128), doubles (24), RBIs (59) and slugging (.431).

"(He's) scrappy at the plate," Mavs manager Jim Horner said before Friday's game. "He puts together some professional ABs. He's got quick hands, and he just competes at the plate. He doesn't like to get out."

Tenbrink has been locked in throughout the first month of the year for the Mavs (14-8), and his RBI single to cap a six-run second inning extended his hitting streak to 11 games.

How does Tenbrink explain his torrid start to his second full season of professional baseball?

"I'm not missing the fastball right now," he said. "Just swinging at good pitches, not striking out a lot. Not swinging at bad pitches, which helps.

"And once I see that fastball, I'm taking advantage of it and putting it in play, hitting it hard."

That approach has paid off for Tenbrink to the tune of 11 extra-base hits  an important total for a player that specializes in hitting the ball into the outfield gaps.

"He's going to be  even at a higher level  he's going to be a doubles guy, a triples guy," Horner said. "Just because he's more of a gap-to-gap hitter, not necessarily a hit the ball over the fence type of guy. But there's plenty of those type of guys in the big leagues."

Tenbrink isn't the traditional power hitting third baseman like a Troy Glaus, who made a name for himself by hitting home runs but not much else.

Tenbrink is more in the mold of a David Wright of the New York Mets. A guy who has the athleticism and speed to turn a double into a triple, but can also blast a couple out of the park if he gets the right pitch.

"The pop is there, the home runs are going to come," Tenbrink said. "But more importantly is being able to run the bases hard, and that's where the triples and doubles come. And being able to hustle around the bases is key for me."

But while much will be made of Tenbrink's bat, the Kansas State University product singled out his fielding as one of the more improved parts of his game.

Tenbrink said that he spent a lot of the offseason working on his throwing mechanics and his ability to throw across the diamond to first base with regularity.

All those offseason drills showed Friday night on two different plays.

In the third inning Tenbrink battled a high infield fly all the way to the right of the mound for a tricky catch.

The following inning he dove to his left to stop a would-be single and then threw out the lead runner at second base.